Science-Fiction Review

[MegaLinuxer]

No Fred Saberhagen or John Ringo?

[fehquig]

I haven't read any Saberhagen in a while... I remember reading "The Veils of Azlaroc" around 1979-80 and it left an indelible impression on me... I think there's some more in my pile of unread books. I never read any John Ringo... Whose writing does his compare to?

[MegaLinuxer]

@fehquig well I specifically like the berserker story line that Fred does" if you like books about killer machines then you might enjoy this. John Ringo is not going to be considered a classic science fiction author so I wold not be able to compare him to anyone he wrote "through the looking glass" which I really like and also 'the von neumen war' which is probably one of my favorite books he has done.

[fehquig]

@MegaLinuxer I have read quite a few of his berserker stories as well as his vampire novels. It's just been a long time since then... It would be very difficult to put a whole lifetime of reading into a couple of ten minute videos. I have forgotten about more books that I have read than I could count :)

[MegaLinuxer]

@fehquig true it would be difficult, nice video anyway. :-)

[TheHumanFiction]

Thanks for these recommendations! I'm trying to get more into sci fi, so I'll check some of these out!

[fehquig]

With me it's a lifelong passion...

[meow98]

I am currently reading, The Secret Books of Paradys III and IV, by Tanith Lee.Pretty good. Have you read anything by her?

[fehquig]

@meow98 Now there's an author I haven't looked at or even heard of...

[don13845]

All Asimov is definately great and dune is my favorite of all-time, but I just read Galactic Battlefront Chronicles of a Soldier and it instantly made my top 10...I haven't read a book as good as this for nearly fifty years and I can't wait to see where it goes. I can't leave the websitehere or it doesn't let me post but you can go to gbuniverse with a . then com ;) check it out the first installment is available for free right on the site. I expect big things from this title

[ProjectZeus]

Nice video! I was hoping you'd talk about the Phobos book, is it a good book? Im new to Sci-Fi literature, so far I've only read Contact by Carl Sagan, Ringworld by Larry Niven and Foundation by Isaac Asimov, loved them all, and am looking for more books to read, but Im a bit reluctant to try more recent books

[fehquig]

I'm not sure that I remember the Phobos book... You'd probably enjoy Asmov's "I Robot" and Frank Herbert's "Dune." There is plenty of older science fiction out there, and some great stuff in used book stores... Try some Heinlein like "Stranger In A Strange Land." I would call that one of science fiction's cornerstones... Remember, when it comes to more recent stuff there are quite a few gems but there's a lot of crap. May I suggest "The Speed of Dark" by Elizabeth Moon. I like that one a lot!

[ProjectZeus]

@fehquig Thank you very much! I will look for those books, and I'll most certainly give "The Speed of Dark" a chance! =)

[Doubledig]

Ha, I've just finished reading Singularity Sky by Charles Stross (I met the Author a few weeks ago). Not the best read I agree. It was the rabbit that really put me off! Lots of techno babble in it but some clever stuff too.

[fehquig]

There was a rabbit? It's been a while. I'm amazed that this four year old video is still getting comments... One of these days I will have to make a video about what little I've been reading since I made that vid :)

[Doubledig]

@fehquig Look forward to the next video instalment. Happy New Year and Happy Reading!

[fehquig]

@Doubledig Well, now... You just tipped my scales into making that followup video! It's uploading right now, and I will attach it to this one.

[WormulonDCP]

Have you read any of the Xeelee Seqeunce, or the Manifold series by Stephen Baxter? They are some of the best sci-fi I know of! It has mind-blowing stuff.

[fehquig]

Some several years ago I gave Stephen Baxter a three novel chance. After reading one, I thought maybe he was just off on that one. I read another and was not too impressed. After reading a third book by Baxter I decided to shelve him. Other authors, like Frank Herbert with the original "Dune," wrote one or two good books and the rest of them were not to my liking. What appeals to any reader is a very personal thing...

[WormulonDCP]

Indeed, everyone has different tastes in things.

[mwtwyman]

Would you be interested in reading some of the short stories on my blog? I'd really appreciate your opinion on my material, thanks!

[fehquig]

@mwtwyman If only I had more time in the day...

[Robbiedbee]

I've bookmarked this video, and will make my way through some of the recommendations.

Have you read Robert Charles Wilson's Spin? It's my favourite sci-fi book to date. I'm nearly done reading its sequel, Axis, which isn't quite as exciting, but it is still very readable.

[fehquig]

Yes, I read Spin about a year ago and enjoyed it... I have a few other Robert Charles Wilson titles in my pile of books that I haven't read yet... Right now, I'm reading China Mieville's Perdido Street Station and Julie Cerneda's Survival, but progress is slow with all the YouTube videos that I'm still catching up on. I thought of doing a folllowup to this video now as it was almost four years ago, but I haven't read all that much in that time :)

[TheWonderingMan]

Great boooks but Stephen King is the best for me. I have all his books, and sometimes I just read one again cause the suspence is fantastic. You allmost can feel his work, just beutiful till the last page.^^

[fehquig]

Reading material is a very personal thing... I'm making my way through China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station" finally, and I'm enjoying it immensely. What an imagination!

[soberauer]

Hi Andy

I've written a novel, called "The Mischievous Nerd's Guide to World Domination".

I'm looking for people to read it and let me if it's crap or not :) I've also done something very special with this book -> I've made it customizable, which means that you can choose the main characters' names and genders (If you want to).

Contact me if you're interested in reading it and I'll send you the PDF for free, or let you know where you can get the paperback.

Cheers,

Stephen

[cujo76]

cheers dude!

[effadrine]

I'm just getting into Science fiction and am never sure what to buy. I love Douglas Adams, Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke. Any suggestions???

[fehquig]

My suggestions are in the video...

[Edubbplate]

@effadrine Orson Scott Card.

[KaiserAugustus72]

@effadrine Hi, just read your comment here and couldn't resist. :

If you like Heinlein and Clarke you can't miss Isaac Asimov , They were considered the 'great three of Sci-fi's golden age' ( '40s & 50s )

Personelly I think AE v Vogt counts as Fourth

and if you like Adams maybe Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is too your taste ( a WHOLE lot of silly humor in there )

Futhermore i've got Larry Niven's Discworld, Dan Simmons' Hyperion and Julian May's Manycoloured Land high on my fav list

[piewackit444]

then read and get better instead of the same thing,"im slow at reading"

[MistakeProductions]

this helped a lot, thanks! :)

I just finished Pandora's Star..... oh my god. FANTASTIC book! I'm going to read Judas Unchained now :)

you should update this, I would love to see it :)

[fehquig]

There's not that much to update as I've been on YouTube for nearly four years now, and have been watching videos more than reading. I have a bunch of books that I wanted to read, but they remain mostly unopened on the shelf... Hey! That's another video idea :)

[Almuric7]

I love this video, it's brimming with enthusiasm and really makes you want to read these books.

[fehquig]

Thanks! There are times when I remember what reading a lot was like...

[boffa994]

Thanks for the awesome review. Hope to hear more from yah later. Im just getting into sci- fi books. Just started Ender's Game. Its great. Hope to read Dune too. I See you have American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Benn wanted to read some of his stuff. Was the book really good or worth reading?

[fehquig]

I should really do an update on this review someday :)

I read Dune nearly thirty years ago, and as I remember it took me a good hundred pages before I started getting into it, and then it was terrific! The second and third books were also good, but after I got beyond that in the series they got less interesting. The last one that I read was "God Emperor Of Dune" which was disappointing like everything else that I read by Frank Herbert except for those first three Dune books...

[fehquig]

I have never picked up another book by Neil Gaiman since I read American Gods, and that's about three years ago now. I was not impressed, and I don't know what all the hype is about...

Since I've been on YouTube, my reading has slowed down considerably. It took me two months to get through "Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson just because so much of my time is spent here on YouTube. I'm currently reading "Beyond Infinity" by Gregory Benford, and 100 pages in it's great!

[Stormtjakka]

Pure junk!,trash don't read it

LoL good one man. gonna check the library for Jack williamson

[fehquig]

I wish I wasn't so busy with YouTube... I'm down to reading one book in about three months these days :)

I have yet to read ANY of the Jack Williamson that I picked up that time...

[zaaach7]

The Scar was amazing. Thanks for the recomendations :)

[fehquig]

LOL I will eventually get to other Mieville books. My reading has slowed down a lot of late...

[Skeptic2006]

Thanks for the recommendations.

[fehquig]

You're welcome anytime!

[Almuric7]

Jack Williamson is THE Man...

[fehquig]

I have yet to look at, let alone read all the Jack Williamson books that I bought. My YouTube addiction appears to be winning, but I will read more when I take a vacation. I used to read a lot at work in my taxi between fares. Nowadays I'm usually too busy except on very slow Sunday nights...

[Almuric7]

Wow thanks for the reviews, I love Science Fiction also - mostly older stuff for me, but I got Phobos also.

I'd love to hear more if you do another of these review blogs

[fehquig]

I will attach it to this one, but I don't have any immediate plans. I need to read a few more books first. ;-)

[Vercinger]

Have you read any of the sf books 'Ring Life'? if so - can you do a review of them? :) I'd like to know if they're worth reading :)

Thanks

[fehquig]

Ring Life? Who's the author? I never heard of it. Right now, I'm reading about a book a month, down from five or six since I started on YouTube :)

[Vercinger]

Ringworld - by Larry Niven

[fehquig]

Aha! I've read most of that ringworld series, but never in order, and I may have missed one or two. It's a bit like Frank Herbert's Dune series. It took me 100 pages to get into Dune, then I couldn't put it down! After that, the books got worse and worse as I kept going through the series. Most of the other Frank Herbert stuff I've read is crap...

[hiowaska]

I've just gotten into Science Fiction in recent months and I've watched your video over and over scouting out what you said was good and who/what wasn't.

Anyway, just wanting to say I've found your reivews of these books very helpful.

Post more!

[fehquig]

See my Taxi Vlog 31 for my five all-time favorites! I plan to do a little review of what I've read since I made this video over a year ago...

[BattlefieldDoktor]

It's really a lot of interesting books. The cover of Frameshift looks great. You've really a great collection! Will you read them all once again?

[fehquig]

Are you kidding? I have some 93 books already waiting on the shelf and feeling neglected, having never been opened. I will get to them with time. I only have time to read in the taxi between fares, these days. One book takes about three weeks to read at that pace...

[SteveNGarth]

2ndly Get the RAMA series from Arthur C Clarke, it is my favourite science fiction read All 4 books Rendevous with rama, Rama 2, Garden of rama and Rama revealed. lots of twists, turns, life experiences and alien interaction and the question where are we from? I have read it 4 times now the whole series, I would recomend it.

[fehquig]

I've read about half of the Rama series over twenty years ago. Although I enjoy hard science fiction, I like it a bit softer than Clarke most of the time. My pile of stuff to be read will last me a few years as it is now that I'm heavily into YouTube...

[SteveNGarth]

Some books worth getting..

Peter F Hamilton (you liked Pandoras star) get the 3 books from the confederation series - Reality dysfunction, The Nutronium Alchamist and the Forge of God. Between all 3 books its about 3500 pages, but what a space opera, its dark, good complex characters, humour, sadness, romance everything you want.

[fehquig]

I've been reading a lot of Jack McDevitt and Fred Pohl

lately. I'm looking for more Harlan Ellison these days...

[gfguunfg]

I've just finished Chindi and Omega. They're super. I'm a big fan of hard sci-fi. Greg Bear, Stephen Baxter, and The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction.

[Khultan]

I've read a few Robert Heinlein books and I think I read Arthur C. Clarke's Rendevous with Rama but I guess I'm more into the Flinx and Pip series....hey, I discovered them when I was an adolscent.

[Marihani]

The internet in general slows me down immensly. That and my pottery - and now especially pottery and YouTube. But when I am working in my workshop, I like to watch a movie or preferably a series on my teeny weeny tv. That's why all the star treks and the babylon 5 dvds. Just now, I am watching seasons 1 and 2 of Moonlighting. Quite amusing, actually. Got any suggestions for series - preferably sci-fi? (oh yes, and going to get MASH soon!)

[Marihani]

Heinlein has been my favourite for about 30 years already. Think I have about everything he has published.

I had to save this to my favourites, as I have such a backlog of books bought but not read, so I have to come back to this one :-)

[fehquig]

I feel your joy and your sorrow. If I read four or five books a month I'm OK for something like two years with what I already have but have not read yet. YouTube has been slowing me down of late... ;-)

[Marihani]

The internet in general slows me down immensly. That and my pottery - and now especially pottery and YouTube. But when I am working in my workshop, I like to watch a movie or preferably a series on my teeny weeny tv. That's why all the star treks and the babylon 5 dvds. Just now, I am watching seasons 1 and 2 of Moonlighting. Quite amusing, actually. Got any suggestions for series - preferably sci-fi? (oh yes, and going to get MASH soon!)

[fehquig]

I really enjoyed all seasons of "Six Feet Under," and when I'm in the mood for escapist VHS, I have a tape that I made about twenty years ago containing the BBC series of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and all seven episodes of "Fawlty Towers." Eclectic, I know...

[msyankee2u]

wow, interesting collection. I'm amazed at how u can remember all that u have read. Thanks for sharing.

[fehquig]

I try to forget the ones I didn't like!